This summer has proven to be one of the worst in years for theaters everywhere. With record setting big budget failures and would be blockbuster flops, this weekend's box office is further proof that the current model is unpredictable and no longer functioning how it should. Huge cash cows like the Alien franchise took an absolute beating this year and the $220 million Valerian took in less than 20 percent of its production budget domestically. Numbers as a whole were down over 10 percent as nearly every tentpole lost money for their respective studios. Huge chains like AMC lost 27 percent of its value over the course of this theatrical season. The only massive blockbusters were Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Annabelle:Creation threw things for a bit of a loop with a huge take set against a meager budget.
This closing weekend was a mystery of sorts as no major films opened. The critically reviled The Hitman's Bodyguard came in first for the third weekend in a row bringing it to $54.9 million domestically, doubling its budget. Annabelle continued to haunt as she took the second place slot with another $7.3 million. The evil doll is now sitting at a comfortable domestic gross of $88.9 million. In third place was Taylor Sheridan's Wind River with $5.8 million. Leap and Logan Lucky rounded out the bottom spots, each taking in between $4.4 and $4.8 million.
With companies like Moviepass trying to revitalize the market, we continue to wonder where the future of megaplexes lies. As mega-franchises continue to crumble, new models need to bring people back to the theater. For a while, 3D got people interested again. Now as that technology loses its once glorious gimmicky luster, we fear the worst. People just aren't going to the movies anymore.